Music Sound

Acid rock is a form of psychedelic music and was the first form of it to achieve popular acclaim. The term acid rock was much used in its heyday, but has fallen into disuse except for putting this music into its historical perspective.

The term refers to a type of music meant to be experienced in conjunction with lysergic diethylamide, or LSD, commonly called "acid". Characterized by an off-beat style and sometimes strange sound/musical effects, acid rock often settles into a hypnotic groove wherein a listener (and possibly even the band) can "get lost" within a song. For example, the Grateful Dead would perform while on acid, and once they started improvising within a song (or "jamming"), the song could conceivably go on forever. One song, "Dark Star", largely improvised, would sometimes last 5 minutes, but other times it went on for nearly an hour.

Notable examples of acid rock tracks and singles include:

White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane, 1967).
When the Music's Over (The Doors, 1967).
The End (The Doors, 1967)
Hole In My Shoe (Traffic, 1967).
See Emily Play (Pink Floyd, 1967).
Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd, 1967).
Arnold Layne (Pink Floyd, 1967)
Strawberry Fields Forever (The Beatles, 1967).
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (The Beatles), 1967).
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (Iron Butterfly, 1968).
Dark Star (Grateful Dead), 1968).
Summertime Blues (Blue Cheer), 1968).
Incense and Peppermints (Strawberry Alarm Clock, 1967).
Space Oddity (David Bowie, 1969).

See also

• Psychedelic music for origins of Acid rock.

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